Federal investigators say the owner of a local biofuels company was starting to seek business investmentswith the rising cash flow from his company's renewable energy credit sales.

Federal investigators say the owner of a local biofuels company was starting to seek business investments and real estate deals with the rising cash flow from his company’s renewable energy credit sales, documents unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court show.

Five new seizure warrants were unsealed in connection with a joint Environmental Protection Agency-Secret Service investigation into the Lubbock-based biofuels company and its owner, Jeffrey David Gunselman.

The warrants are the second batch of documents to become public as the two agencies investigate allegations the company sold more than $40 million in renewable energy credits through an EPA clearinghouse to oil companies without making the biodiesel to back up those credits.

No charges have been brought against Gunselman or other people connected with Absolute Fuels.

The probe gained public notice Oct. 17, when federal agents searched Gunselman’s Toledo Avenue home along with the Absolute Fuels office in Lubbock and a fuel processing facility near Anton. During those raids, agents seized Gunselman’s private jet, 10 personal vehicles, 20 bank accounts connected to Gunselman’s businesses, and several pieces of heavy equipment.

Under the new warrants, federal agents seized a checking and a savings account at PlainsCapital Bank, each in the name of Gunselman’s wife, Criselda; two college investment fund accounts with American Funds for the benefit of David and Katherine Earwood; and a Shelby Cobra Roller automobile Gunselman had given San Antonio Spurs basketball player Tony Parker.

No balances were listed in the affidavits for the four accounts. The federal affidavit also states Gunselman paid $129,999 for Parker’s gift car.

Jeffrey Peck, corporate counsel for Absolute Fuels, did not reply to a telephone message from The Avalanche-Journal seeking comment for this story.

U.S. Magistrate Nancy M. Koenig granted the warrants Nov. 15, according to court documents. The financial accounts were seized the next day, while records show Parker’s business manager, Bill Braden, turned over the muscle car to a federal agent Nov. 23.

More details emerge

The new affidavits provide a few new details and indicate agents used materials seized in the mid-October sweep to widen their view into the business.

Where previously court documents indicated Gunselman traveled lavishly, the new filing uses information attributed to a source identified only as “Jeff Gunselman’s girlfriend,” who said he took those trips to also “explore the purchase of real estate and various business partnerships, including a brokerage firm, in the San Antonio, Texas, area.”

The affidavit also notes a close relationship between Gunselman and Spurs guard Parker. Gunselman had closed on a $2.6 million house near San Antonio, but was furnishing it with purchases from an upscale San Antonio store, Louis Shanks.

According to Bexar Central Appraisal District records, Gunselman bought the house in Bourne from Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett through a company called 21 Investments, a business entity Gunselman created recently.

The sale was recorded Oct. 5.

Randon Hayes, the San Antonio real estate agent who represented Beckett in the purchase, told The A-J that Gunselman and Beckett don’t know each other.

According to Lubbock Central Appraisal District documents, 21 Investments also bought a house Gunselman’s parents had owned in the Raintree neighborhood since May 2002. That purchase was recorded two days before the sale in San Antonio was recorded.

In addition, the affidavits provide new information about Criselda Gunselman’s connection to the company.

Wife’s paychecks

“Records recovered from the Toledo Avenue house indicate Criselda Gunselman received a bi-weekly paycheck in the approximate amount of $3,500,” the new affidavits state.

After receiving that information, the affidavit said, the agents obtained Criselda Gunselman’s consent for an interview in which she said she was an account executive with Absolute Fuels, but said she had only visited the company’s offices once.

“She further stated that her duties include residential chores and managing her husband’s dry cleaning,” the affidavit continued. “Criselda Gunselman was unable to describe any direct professional responsibilities related to Absolute Fuels.”

The affidavit states she received a direct deposit every two weeks from the company for $3,548.60. Some of that money was being transferred electronically to the savings account she had at PlainsCapital.

Criselda Gunselman was a provisional member of the Junior League of Lubbock. In that organization’s fall magazine, In League, she says she’s employed as a “domestic diva,” and her hobbies include photography, traveling, sports, movies, reading and shopping.

To comment on this story:

walt.nett@lubbockonline.com • 766-8744

leesha.faulkner@lubbockonline.com • 766-8706

Bigger picture

National media indicates Absolute Fuels is the second biofuels company to come under federal scrutiny for allegedly generating “renewable identification numbers” — in essence, batch numbers for biofuel a company produces.

The owner of a Maryland business, Clean Green Fuels, was charged in October with wire fraud, money laundering and violating the Clean Air Act in connection with allegations that business generated and sold renewable identification numbers for biofuels the company neither produced nor imported.

That company is accused of selling more than 32 million invalid fuel credits for about $9 million.

Court documents filed in connection with the Absolute Fuels case in Lubbock allege the company sold more than 46 million credits for more than $40 million.

The Maryland prosecution prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to send notices of violation to 24 companies that bought RINs from Clean Green Fuels. The agency ordered the companies to revise their federal Renewable Fuel Standard compliance reports to eliminate the non-existent biofuel credits, and warned them violations were punishable by a fine of $37,500 per day per violation.

According to an EPA news release and documents filed with the Absolute Fuels case, three petroleum companies that did business with Clean Green Fuels — Marathon Petroleum, Sunoco Inc. and Tesoro Cos. — also bought RINs from Absolute.

A fourth company, Trafigura, approached Absolute Fuels about a sale, but canceled the deal when the company’s broker questioned Absolute’s ability to produce the amount of biodiesel to support the number of RINS that were offered, court documents show.

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Expect more of this corruption with cap and trade legislation. This guy should be thrown in jail. Just like in Soviet Russia, dirtbags with connections will always swoop in to get rich from new regulation regimes. Way to go, environmentalists.

for real? He couldn't afford his own muscle car? I guess his divorce from Ms. Longoria wiped him out, or maybe the upkeep for his new mistress.

“She further stated that her duties (as an Account Executive) include residential chores and managing her husband’s dry cleaning” - What an AIRHEAD! She could have come up with something a bit less stupid, even under oath. The Junior League must be very proud of Criselda!

What did I say wrong? I knew I should have copied that post for later "publication." Maybe it was moderated for calling the lovely Criselda an AIRHEAD and noting that the Junior League must be very proud of her!